Published
December 8, 2024
Updated
July 29, 2026
This case is a putative class action over $HAWK, the Solana memecoin launched around Haliey Welch — the "Hawk Tuah girl" — that lost most of its value within minutes of going live in December 2024. Investors are suing the team behind the token, but no class has been certified and there is no settlement, no fund and nothing to claim.
Current Status
There is no settlement and no claim form. A putative class action was filed on December 19, 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of a group of individual plaintiffs and a proposed class of $HAWK purchasers. The case remains in litigation: no class has been certified, no defendant has been found liable, and no settlement fund exists.The most recent development OCA has located is from November 2025, when plaintiffs' counsel moved to amend the complaint to add Haliey Welch, her manager and her company 16 Minutes LLC as defendants. Separately, according to Welch's attorney, the Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation without making findings against her or seeking monetary sanctions.
Anyone who lost money on $HAWK has nothing to file here. If a class is certified or a settlement is reached, a claims process would be announced then.
Allegations Only · No Settlement Yet
This article describes a class action complaint and a pending motion to amend it. The statements below are unproven allegations. No defendant — including Haliey Welch, overHere Ltd, Clinton So, Alex Larson Schultz, Tuah The Moon Foundation or 16 Minutes LLC — has been found liable, there is no certified class, and there is nothing to claim at this time. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
Status
Lawsuit Filed — No Class Certified
Motion to amend filed November 2025; no ruling located as of July 29, 2026.
Claim Deadline
None
No settlement, no fund and no claim form exist.
Estimated Payout
Not established
Any recovery would depend on the outcome of the litigation. No amount has been proposed.
Proof Required
Not applicable
Nothing to file. Investors should keep their own exchange and wallet records.
What Happened at the $HAWK Launch
Haliey Welch became widely known in mid-2024 after a viral street interview, and built a podcast and other ventures on that attention. On December 4, 2024, a Solana-based memecoin using her "Hawk Tuah" branding launched under the ticker $HAWK, described by people involved as a way of tokenizing her fan base.The token's market capitalization climbed to roughly $490 million within minutes of launch. It then fell to about $41 million within roughly 20 minutes. Buyers who entered near the top were left holding a token worth a small fraction of what they paid, and some publicly described losing substantial sums.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The complaint was filed by Wolf Popper LLP and Burwick Law on behalf of individual plaintiffs and a proposed class of $HAWK purchasers. The named defendants were Tuah The Moon Foundation, overHere Ltd, Clinton So and Alex Larson Schultz. Welch was not a defendant in that original filing.The core allegation is that $HAWK was offered and sold as an unregistered security, in violation of federal securities law. Plaintiffs also allege the launch was structured so that insiders benefited at retail buyers' expense — specifically, that tokens were pre-sold to insiders who sold into the launch, that high trading fees generated revenue for the project team, and that the marketing targeted an audience with little cryptocurrency experience.
All of that is contested. Defendants have not been found liable, and no court has ruled on whether $HAWK was a security.
The "Rug Pull" Accusation
The independent investigator Stephen Findeisen, who publishes as Coffeezilla, examined the launch and characterized it as among the worst he had seen, using the crypto term "rug pull" — a launch in which insiders sell into buyer demand and abandon the project. He confronted the project's team about profiting from the launch on a live X audio call, and the team denied wrongdoing before ending his participation."Rug pull" is a characterization made by critics, not a legal finding. Welch maintained that the team had not sold any tokens and that high initial trading fees were an attempt to deter "snipers" — bots that buy instantly at launch. Findeisen said some early purchases appeared to trace to wallets connected to insiders that sold as soon as trading opened; that remains a contested claim.
The November 2025 Motion to Add Welch
In November 2025, Burwick Law asked the court for leave to amend the complaint to add Welch, her manager Johnnie Forster, and her company 16 Minutes LLC as defendants, and to add fraud allegations. The motion also sought permission to use alternative methods to serve the existing defendants overHere Ltd and Clinton So.According to the proposed amended complaint, 16 Minutes LLC signed a "Meme Token Creation and Monetization Agreement" with Memetic Labs roughly five months before the launch, under which Welch would promote the token across her social channels for $125,000 up front plus a further $200,000 tied to promotional milestones.
A motion to amend is a request to the court, not a ruling. OCA has not located an order resolving it as of July 29, 2026, so this page does not state that Welch is a defendant.
The SEC Investigation
In March 2025 Welch said publicly that federal regulators had cleared her. Her attorney later stated that the SEC closed its investigation without making any findings against her and without seeking any monetary sanctions from her.A closed investigation is worth reading precisely. It means the agency did not bring an enforcement action — not that a court found no wrongdoing, and not that the private civil case is resolved. The class action and the SEC inquiry are separate proceedings with different standards.
What Happens Next?
The next milestones in a case at this stage are the court's ruling on the motion to amend, service on the foreign and individual defendants, any motions to dismiss, and — only if the case survives those — a ruling on class certification. A settlement or judgment would come after that, and only then would a claims process exist.OCA does not predict outcomes or timing. This page is updated when a verified development lands.
If You Lost Money on $HAWK
There is no claim to file. What is useful now is preserving your own records: exchange and wallet transaction history, the dates and amounts of your purchases, and any promotional material you relied on. Investors who want to understand their individual options should speak with a securities attorney of their own choosing.OCA is not a law firm, does not represent investors, and cannot evaluate an individual claim.
Sources
• Wolf Popper LLP case page for the $HAWK memecoin litigation• The Block reporting on the December 2024 complaint and the named defendants
• Decrypt reporting on the November 2025 motion to amend and the promotion agreement figures
• CoinDesk and Rolling Stone on Welch's account of the launch and the closed SEC investigation
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Status
Lawsuit filed — no class certified, no settlement
Token
$HAWK, launched on Solana December 4, 2024
Named Defendants
Tuah The Moon Foundation, overHere Ltd, Clinton So, Alex Larson Schultz
A November 2025 motion sought to add Haliey Welch, Johnnie Forster and 16 Minutes LLC; no ruling located.
Court
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Filed
December 19, 2024
Claims
Alleged unregistered securities offering and related securities law violations
Plaintiffs' Counsel
Wolf Popper LLP and Burwick Law
Regulatory
SEC investigation closed without findings against Welch or monetary sanctions, per her attorney
Claim Deadline
None — no claims process exists
